{"id":323791,"date":"2026-08-18T05:36:18","date_gmt":"2026-08-18T05:36:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/323791\/"},"modified":"2026-08-18T05:36:18","modified_gmt":"2026-08-18T05:36:18","slug":"nyc-mayor-zohran-mamdanis-team-insists-he-didnt-use-ai-for-video-of-him-sharing-news-in-mandarin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/323791\/","title":{"rendered":"NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani\u2019s Team Insists He Didn\u2019t Use AI for Video of Him Sharing News in Mandarin"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">New York City Mayor <a data-ylk=\"slk:Zohran Mamdani;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;link&quot;,&quot;yLinkElementType&quot;:&quot;article_link&quot;}\" href=\"https:\/\/globemagazine.com\/tag\/zohran-mamdani\/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">Zohran Mamdani<\/a> appears to be a man of many languages.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">In a <a data-ylk=\"slk:video;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;link&quot;,&quot;yLinkElementType&quot;:&quot;article_link&quot;}\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/NYCMayor\/status\/2087912703532642474\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">video<\/a> shared on his social media, <a data-ylk=\"slk:the politician, 34,;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;link&quot;,&quot;yLinkElementType&quot;:&quot;article_link&quot;}\" href=\"https:\/\/globemagazine.com\/nyc-mayor-zohran-mamdani-still-pushing-for-a-fare-free-bus-system-despite-reports-of-mta-losses\/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">the politician, 34,<\/a> announced on Thursday, August 13, that his office was partnering with a non-profit to &#8220;give away more than two thousand free Broadway tickets to high school students across the five boroughs.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Mamdani followed up that message with two other videos shared on his social media pages, announcing the news in Mandarin and Bengali later that week.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">After speculation circulated online that <a data-ylk=\"slk:the former New York State Assembly member;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;link&quot;,&quot;yLinkElementType&quot;:&quot;article_link&quot;}\" href=\"https:\/\/globemagazine.com\/nyc-mayor-zohran-mamdani-defends-his-nominee-for-housing-role-over-past-comments-about-rich-people\/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">the former New York State Assembly member<\/a> used AI in the video where he spoke Mandarin, Press Secretary and Chief Spokesperson Joe Calvello took to <a data-ylk=\"slk:X;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;link&quot;,&quot;yLinkElementType&quot;:&quot;article_link&quot;}\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/the_vello\/status\/2089036217002111456\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">X<\/a> to shut down the rumors: &#8220;And just to be clear this is NOT AI.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"&lt;span class=&quot;wp-desc-text&quot;&gt;&lt;\/span&gt; &lt;span class=&quot;wp-caption-text&quot;&gt;ZUMAPRESS.com \/ MEGA&lt;\/span&gt;\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"960\" height=\"640\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"rounded-lg\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/https:\/\/media.zenfs.com\/en\/globe_458\/97d44174fc47be7c1cdbf5931929f58d.jpg\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">In a statement to <a data-ylk=\"slk:The New York Times;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;link&quot;,&quot;yLinkElementType&quot;:&quot;article_link&quot;}\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/08\/16\/nyregion\/mamdani-mandarin-video.html\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">The New York Times<\/a> on Sunday, August 16, a spokeswoman revealed <a data-ylk=\"slk:that Mamdani has;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;link&quot;,&quot;yLinkElementType&quot;:&quot;article_link&quot;}\" href=\"https:\/\/globemagazine.com\/nyc-mayor-zohran-mamdani-throws-support-behind-shame-stickers-on-vehicles-illegally-parked\/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">that Mamdani has<\/a> not spoken or studied Mandarin seriously since his years at Bronx High School of Science.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">New York State Senator John Liu is fluent in Mandarin and told the outlet he would give Mamdani a &#8220;solid B,&#8221; noting he used &#8220;proper tones and effective emphasis on various clauses,&#8221; in the pronunciation.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Liu teased, &#8220;It&#8217;s only the first marking period, and it&#8217;s sure to get better,&#8221; and said he would give Mamdani an &#8220;A+ for effort.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"&lt;span class=&quot;wp-desc-text&quot;&gt;&lt;\/span&gt; &lt;span class=&quot;wp-caption-text&quot;&gt;ZUMAPRESS.com \/ MEGA&lt;\/span&gt;\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"960\" height=\"640\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"rounded-lg\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/https:\/\/media.zenfs.com\/en\/globe_458\/d9a176eff2c2afaf6745b2a71dfabc17.jpg\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">While campaigning to be mayor, Mamdani spoke Arabic, Hindi and Urdu, per the New York Times, which proved valuable to him, as the <a data-ylk=\"slk:New York State website;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;link&quot;,&quot;yLinkElementType&quot;:&quot;article_link&quot;}\" href=\"https:\/\/ogs.ny.gov\/language-dashboard\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">New York State website<\/a> estimates that NYC residents speak over 800 languages.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\"><a data-ylk=\"slk:Al Jazeera;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;link&quot;,&quot;yLinkElementType&quot;:&quot;article_link&quot;}\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/economy\/2025\/7\/17\/how-zohran-mamdani-reached-a-multilingual-multicultural-new-york?utm_source=chatgpt.com\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">Al Jazeera<\/a> reported in July 2025 that &#8220;experts&#8221; think &#8220;Mamdani successfully used his skills in multiple languages to appeal to voters who often are not targeted by mainstream election campaigns, highlighting policy proposals targeting voters&#8217; biggest concerns, like affordability.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">This story <a data-ylk=\"slk:NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani&#039;s Team Insists He Didn&#039;t Use AI for Video of Him Sharing News in Mandarin;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;link&quot;,&quot;yLinkElementType&quot;:&quot;article_link&quot;}\" href=\"https:\/\/globemagazine.com\/nyc-mayor-zohran-mamdanis-team-insists-he-didnt-use-ai-for-video-of-him-sharing-news-in-mandarin\/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani&#8217;s Team Insists He Didn&#8217;t Use AI for Video of Him Sharing News in Mandarin<\/a> first appeared on <a data-ylk=\"slk:Globe;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;link&quot;,&quot;yLinkElementType&quot;:&quot;article_link&quot;}\" href=\"https:\/\/globemagazine.com\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">Globe<\/a>. Follow <a data-ylk=\"slk:Globe;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;link&quot;,&quot;yLinkElementType&quot;:&quot;article_link&quot;}\" href=\"https:\/\/profiles.yahoo.com\/brands\/globe\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Globe<\/a><a data-ylk=\"slk:on;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;link&quot;,&quot;yLinkElementType&quot;:&quot;article_link&quot;}\" href=\"https:\/\/profiles.yahoo.com\/brands\/globe\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"> on <\/a><a data-ylk=\"slk:Yahoo;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;link&quot;,&quot;yLinkElementType&quot;:&quot;article_link&quot;}\" href=\"https:\/\/profiles.yahoo.com\/brands\/globe\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Yahoo<\/a> so you don&#8217;t miss what&#8217;s coming next.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani appears to be a man of many languages. In a video shared&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":323792,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[9,17566,56,63,65,64,61943],"class_list":["post-323791","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-state-assembly","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-nyc-headlines","tag-nyc-news","tag-zohran-kwame-mamdani"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/323791","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=323791"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/323791\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/323792"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=323791"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=323791"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=323791"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}